GUIDELINES FOR SAINT PETER PARISH / THE RESUMPTION OF PUBLIC WORSHIP

GUIDELINES FOR SAINT PETER PARISH
THE RESUMPTION OF PUBLIC WORSHIP

Dear Parishioners,

On Saturday. May 30th and Sunday, May 31st our parish will resume its regular Mass schedule since the weekend of March 14th and 15th.

During this time, our health care workers and first responders have worked tirelessly to care for the sick, even at risk to their own lives. Our religious and government leaders have worked together in uncharted waters to provide for the spiritual and material needs of all of us.

We now have the task before us to once again come together for the celebration of Holy Eucharist in the fullness of the Body of Christ, the community gathered in prayer. While many were able to watch Mass on websites and live streaming, nothing can compare to the reality of celebrating the Eucharist as a family, in our beautiful church.

I ask you to consider the following guidelines, that are intended to provide for any orderly, prayerful and safe environment for all who choose to attend Mass this coming weekend.

The church has been cleaned and sanitized for you. Every other pew has been roped off, to provide for social distancing. We can accommodate at least 90 people.

I would ask you to allow our sacristans to lead you to your seats…beginning with the front rows and working to the back of the church. We cannot have people climbing over each other. This means that you will not be able to just sit anywhere or where you usually sit. You will be required to wear a mask for the benefit of keeping others safe.

By observing this one directive, everyone will move in one direction for communion and for exiting, making it easy to observe social distancing. I ask for your patience and understanding.

I will be speaking to everyone before Mass begins to explain how we will receive communion and how we will exit the church. My hope is that our opening will not cause stress for anyone.

There will be a basket in the front hallway for your budgets, and the gifts will not be brought up. Hymns for Mass will be on a sheet of paper in your bulletin for those who would like to follow the music.

It is my prayer that we will eventually get back to a more normal, “new normal,” way of celebrating Mass and the sacraments in the weeks to come.

I look forward to seeing many of you this coming week. Please continue to pray for me and Msgr. Iacovacci that we will be able to provide for the spiritual, pastoral, and material needs of our parish and school. You are in our prayers.

Thank you for continued support and prayers. I will continue to keep you updated and informed on our parish website.

Father Gagne